


Newly Calibrated, All Shiny and Clean

by escritoireazul



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/F, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Threesome - F/F/F, Yuletide 2014, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 04:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2838185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escritoireazul/pseuds/escritoireazul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Summer Society hunt runs long into the night. Danny holds her spear loosely in her left hand. Mostly, it’s ceremonial, but it is tipped in silver. Once upon a time, werewolves roamed the woods, long before Silas University was even a thought behind a dream. At least, that’s how the story goes.</p><p>Danny <em>believes</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Newly Calibrated, All Shiny and Clean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phrenotobe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phrenotobe/gifts).



_If you go down to the woods today,  
You’d better not go alone._

The latest Summer Society hunt runs long into the night, and at first, they all stay together, bodies tangled, but a few hours in, everyone's spread out. Danny holds her spear loosely in her left hand. Mostly, it’s ceremonial, but it is tipped in silver. Once upon a time, werewolves roamed these woods, long before Silas University was even a thought behind a dream. At least, that’s how the story goes.

There’s four generations of Summer Society members who haven’t seen so much as the flash of a tail. When she first joined, a wee freshman – well, a giant freshman, she’s always been sky high and proud – she grinned at the stories, clinked plastic cups of spiked punch in toasts, ran with her sisters without a care in the world.

That was before she’d seen all the weirdness of Silas. That was before girls changed and disappeared. That was before Laura Hollis stole her heart, and Carmilla Karnstein swept in to ooze sex all over them.

She’s a monster with a pretty face.

Danny believes now.

Something rustles behind her, and Danny spins fast, bringing up her spear. Three girls spring out, running strong, hair streaming in a way that is utterly impractical in the woods.

“Come on, Danny!” One cries, voice lifted high with joy. Another spins around Danny, setting red and orange leaves aflutter. The third stops just at the edge of the clearing, quivering, waiting. She grins at Danny, all teeth and bright eyes, then when her friends join her, plunges back into the trees.

They leave Danny breathless with laughter. She slams the tip of her spear into the ground, leaves it standing tall so her hands are free, reaches up to tighten her ponytail.

That’s when it hits. Something heavy, furred, dark as the shadows under the trees. Danny lands hard, hears something crunch, and pain shoots up her right arm. She shoves her left up, hot breath, sharp teeth, and then there’s blood dripping onto her face, thick and wet.

Its head shoves her arm up, then teeth close on the side of her neck, tearing, ripping, a growl that vibrates her throat, stifles her screams.

Then it’s gone, and Danny is left sprawled flat, broken wrist, shredded arm, torn throat. The moon is full, high overhead, but its light is mostly blocked out by the trees, thick branches stretched wide, leaves clinging. 

Her breath gurgles in her throat, her lungs burn.

Danny’s vision goes dark. She thinks, maybe, she closes her eyes.

***

“Oh, Gingersnap, what’ve you got yourself into?” Carmilla’s voice is throaty and full of laughter, but when Danny blinks, blinks again, and finally focuses on her face, she actually looks -- _concerned_.

Danny sits up, braces herself on her right arm, before she remembers she can’t. There’s no pain, though. Her wrist: not broken. She checks her left arm, and it’s the same. Arm: not shredded. Carefully, slowly, she reaches up, presses her fingers to the side of her neck. Throat: not torn.

“Did the Zetas spike our water?” she asks. She doesn’t mean to sound hopeful, but she does.

Carmilla shakes her head. “Come on, let’s get you back to the dorm. Laura’s having a fit, afraid something’s happened to you.”

Laura’s sweet to worry, Danny thinks, and then, okay, maybe right to worry, too. Carmilla’s already on her feet, offering a hand down to her, and, after a second, she takes it. She’s on her feet in a smooth motion, looking down at Carmilla. Carmilla grins, slow spread of her lips, deep red from her lipstick, across very white teeth.

“I was attacked,” Danny says, tries out the words. The corner of Carmilla’s mouth twitches, but she only nods, doesn’t say anything else.

It takes Danny a minute to realize they’re still holding hands. She looks down at Carmilla’s fingers twisted around hers, and lets it go.

***

“Oh my god, Danny, I was so worried!” Laura flings herself at Danny, and, without really thinking about, Danny catches her, holds her tight. Laura presses her face against Danny’s arm, squeezes her arms around Danny’s waist. “When you didn’t come back, and no one could find you – I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Carmilla laughs, a little brittle, and Laura pulls back, putting space between their bodies. Danny lets go, but keeps one hand on Laura’s shoulder, watching Carmilla over Laura’s head.

She quirks her lips, but when she speaks, it’s aimed at Laura. “Hope you don’t mind the smell of wet dog,” she says, and Laura frowns, looking from Danny to Carmilla and back again.

“Did you find something in the woods?” she asks, and reaches for Danny’s hand. “Did you actually have to--”

Danny’s pretty sure about what Laura isn’t saying. She shakes her head. “It’s just a ritual hunt,” she says, the same thing the Summer Society has told the school administration about every hunt they’ve ever had. 

“And yet, you managed to flush a beast.” Carmilla flings herself dramatically onto her bed, back against the wall, and props one heavy boot up on her thigh, picks pine needles from the laces.

“What happened?” Laura asks, squeezes Danny’s hand.

Danny sighs. “I’m not sure,” she admits at last. “I think I got attacked, but, well,” she gestures ineffectually at her body. Laura watches her close, eyes a little wide, cheeks flushed. Carmilla watches too, and the heat in her eyes makes Danny shiver. “I’m fine.”

“That’s good!” Laura says, but Carmilla speaks over her.

“Red, you are so far from fine.” She drops her foot to the floor and stretches, making her shirt rise up, baring a strip of pale stomach. Danny touches the side of her throat, but there’s nothing there, no wound, no scars.

“What happened to me?” Danny asks. It comes across angrier than she feels. Mostly she’s just exhausted, worried, a little unnerved by Carmilla’s help.

“You, my dear, have been marked by the beast.” Carmilla’s words are dramatic, overdone, but her tone is friendly, almost cheerful. “Under the next full moon, you will shift and become a wolf.”

“You’re joking.” Laura’s voice goes high, almost a squeak, and she sits down, very fast, on the edge of her bed. Since she’s still holding tight to Danny’s hand, she tugs Danny after. That’s not really a bad thing. Danny’s knees have gone a little weak, and anyway, there’s nothing wrong with sitting so close to Laura she can feel the heat off her skin.

“Sorry. Little Red,” here, Carmilla drags her gaze up and down Danny’s body, and this time, Danny can’t hide the way it makes her shiver and twitch, “you’re about to become the Big Bad Wolf.”

***

They spend hours holed up in Laura’s room, trying to find a cure. Danny’s not at all surprised that Laura throws herself whole heartedly into the research, but even Carmilla picks up a book or two. That throws Danny for a bit of a loop. Then, late one afternoon when they’re all exhausted, she tells them a story about the first werewolf she ever met.

Her stories are not nice. They are bloody and monstrous, and Danny does not like the way something inside her quirks up a little more with each new tale. Still, there’s hope to them, if no cure. Carmilla’s never met a werewolf who locked herself up, but she’s heard it works.

More than three weeks of research, no answers. They need to find a cage, and they need to find one fast.

That’s when Laura brings in LaFontaine. Or maybe she brought her in earlier, had her doing research, joined her on trips to the library. Danny’s having trouble noticing things like that. Trouble focusing. Or, no, trouble focusing on what she needs to focus on, because it’s easy as anything to sit there and drift off admiring the subtle way Laura’s body wash mixes with the hot chocolate she drinks and the something else tangled with it, more human, more fleshy.

Carmilla smells like – like drying flowers, a little dusty, with just a drop of something warm. It’s, surprisingly, not a bad scent.

Each time Danny catches herself, she bears down, stares at the words in the books, on the screen, but in the end, it doesn’t help.

Luckily, LaFontaine knows of a metal-lined room under the art building. The door is a foot thick, solid steel. There’s even a small window, bullet-proof glass, thick and strong. Danny presses her fingers against her face, feels the line of her cheekbones.

What will happen to her? She’s seen the movies, watched nose and mouth lengthen into muzzle, skin split, bones break. Will it hurt? Will she remember what happens?

Will she break free, hurt someone? Kill someone? Does she need to be put down?

She can’t ask those questions of Laura, and the past couple days, Laura’s always around. Danny watches Carmilla, hoping for a moment alone with her, but nothing comes up.

Finally, the night before she’s to be locked up, she gives in. Laura’s worked so hard trying to help her. And, though she doesn’t like to think about it, she remembers Laura’s words. Said in the heat of a fight, in fear, but she got the underlying point. After awhile, where she went off and thought about it, and punched things, bruising her knuckles a bit, and then, begrudgingly, admitted, to herself at least, that yes, Laura gets to make her own decisions about whether she puts herself into danger or not. And one of the things that had Danny so mad then – besides, you know, _a vampire bit you what the hell Laura!_ \-- was that Laura kept not sharing information with Danny, Perry, and LaFontaine. And that sucked, a lot, for practical reasons, but also it just flat hurt.

“I’m scared,” Danny tells Laura. She can’t look at Laura, doesn’t want to look at Carmilla, so she stares at the floor. Her hands rest on her thighs, but her fingers keep twitching. The full moon, it’s coming.

She doesn’t have to think about it; her body _knows_.

Laura takes her hand. “Of course you are. Totally understandable. This is kind of a big deal. Your body’s going to do something you can’t control, and that’s terrifying.” Danny nods, because yes. She’s spent years honing her body, lifting weights, running, learning to hit and kick things. She’s always the one in control, even when it hurts, even when she’s gasping for air and struggling to keep going just one minute more. Now she’s not.

But that’s not everything.

“Don’t let me hurt anyone.” She spits the words out in a rush, and finally can’t help herself. She looks at Laura, at Carmilla. Somehow, she has to trust them, not to save her, but to save the world _from_ her.

“You won’t do that,” Laura says, and if only Danny could believe the absolute certainty in her voice. Still, Danny keeps looking at Carmilla, who sighs, stretches like a cat, then, finally, gives a little nod.

She doesn’t want to think too hard about why she’s willing to trust a vampire to keep the world safe, but, well, she does.

***

Laura sets up a camera that she and LaFontaine “borrowed” from the mass media department. “We won’t film if you don’t want us to,” Laura says. She’s holding Danny’s hand again. “I just thought it might help, after. If you could, you know, see what happened. We don’t have to watch it with you.”

“That’s sweet,” Danny says. She wants to kiss Laura, but she’s shaking. Moonrise is coming, and something inside her twitches, stretches, pokes sharp claws against her insides. She pulls her hand away from Laura, doesn’t mean for it to be such a sharp motion, but she can’t touch her, not like this. Laura’s smile trembles. Danny has no comfort, no words.

Carmilla hops up onto a table across from the door. There’s no good reason it should be there. Maybe she arranged it herself. She’s carrying a gun. Danny’s not really into firearms, doesn’t recognize it. Looks a little like a shotgun.

“You can’t shoot her!” Laura snaps. “You’ll kill her.”

“Don’t worry, Cutie, I’m not taking Old Yeller out back just yet.” She sits cross-legged, puts the gun in her lap. “Tranq gun. It’ll just knock her out.”

Relief rushes through her, so warm, so strong she nearly has to sit down. “You’re sure?” she asks, and if her voice shakes a little, well.

Carmilla’s grin is sharp, toothy. “You get loose, I swear, you’ll take a little nap, be back to Xena-mode in the morning.”

Danny’s rolling her eyes when it hits, a low rumble in the back of her throat, pain in her knees and elbows, twitch in her fingers and toes.

“Lock her up, Buttercup,” Carmilla says, but there’s no humor in her voice. “It’s time.”

Laura opens the door for Danny, hesitates once Danny’s inside. “We’ll be here when it’s over,” she says, swinging the door a little. It means a lot, Laura being there. It means a lot, Carmilla keeping watch, but – and another wave of pain. Okay, this is going to suck.

Danny tries to say thanks, tries to say I wish I could kiss you, tries to say – and tries to say – and tries to say –

Her body bends, dragging her down, skin crawling, prickling from the inside out, and her humanity, her thoughts, flee.

***

Danny wakes, cold, energized. Her body aches, but it’s that good kind of pain after a big workout. When she goes to sit up, she’s on her feet before she realizes it. No wonder she’s cold. Her clothes are gone, shredded. The plan had been for her to strip once she was in the room. They must have cut it too close.

The door cracks open, but no one comes in. She can hear Laura and Carmilla waiting for her, can smell them. They smell good together. She licks her lips.

There’s coffee, too, and she pushes the door open the rest of the way. She’s naked, chilled, nipples drawn tight, but she doesn’t care. Laura looks up, blushes, stammers a little, but she looks. She _looks_.

Carmilla looks too, cocks an eyebrow, lifts the corner of her mouth in a smirk.

The coffee is perfect, the clothes Laura has for her warm, her big hug even better.

Danny sits between them, Laura holding one hand, Carmilla close enough their arms press together, and something inside – that animal thing, that wolf thing – curls up, satisfied.


End file.
